Exploratory study on the relationship between communication and marketing managers in South Africa

1
Exploratory study on the relationship between
communication and marketing managers in South
Africa

• Elsamari Coetzee
• University of Pretoria, South Africa

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Objectives of the Study

• Primary objective
• To determine the perception of key marketing and
  communication practitioners in South Africa
  regarding the relationship between marketing and
  communication.
• Secondary objectives
• To determine the organisational structure,
  specifically with regards to marketing and
  communication, of the measured organisations.
• To determine whether the marketing and
  communication functions in the measured South
  African companies are integrated or autonomous.
• To determine the perception of key tasks or
  functions of communication and marketing managers
  in the measured companies.
• To determine whether these tasks are practised on
  a functional or strategic level in the
  organisation.
• To look at the possible influence of top
  management and the dominant coalition on the
  relationship between marketing and communication.

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Outline of the paper

• Key influencing factors in the relationship
  between marketing and communication management
• Organisational structure
• Power-control vs. Contingency Theory
• Integration vs. Autonomy of the two functions
• Influence of top management and the dominant
  coalition
• The South African context
• Methodology
• Results
• Limitations of the study
• Conclusion

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1. Key influencing factors

• Organisational structure
• Influences the scope and range of marketing and
  communication within the organisation including
• Access to top management
• The responsibilities of communication and
  marketing managers
• Perceptions of the role of communication and
  marketing managers
• Two primary forms of organisational structure
• Functional
• Market or Product based
• Central theories and debates in organisational
  structure
• Power-control (strategic-choice) vs. Contingency
• Integration vs. Autonomy
• Perceptions of top management and / or the
  dominant coaltion
• The South African Context

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2. Methodology

• Exploratory study
• Target population communication and/or
  marketing managers in top South African companies
• Population size 15 respondents
• Sampling technique judgmental sampling
• Research method Telephone interviews
• Response rate 53
• Sample size 8 respondents

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Summary of respondents, their companies and
industries
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3. Results Organisational structure

• Functional vs. Product/market-based structure
• Majority of the organisations observed (63)
  indicated a functional organisational structure
• Primary advantages of this structure include
  efficiency, autonomy and economy
• Appropriate for stable environments (South
  African or global environment?)
• Autonomy vs. Integration
• 50 of organisations integrated the marketing and
  communication functions
• 25 stated that they were completely autonomous
• 25 stated that even though the organisational
  structure indicated that the two functions were
  autonomous, their working relationships were
  completely integrated
• Examples of the organisational structures of the
  measured companies

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Organisation 1
9
Organisation 2
10
Organisation 3
11
Organisation 4
12
Organisation 5
13
Organisation 6
14
Company 7
15
Company 8
16
Direct access to the CEO and the integration of
the two functions
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3. Results Organisational structure

• Power-control vs. Contingency theory
• The power-control theory assumes that
  organisational structure is determined by
  managerial choice

• Environmental factors are perceived to be the
  main influencing factors of organisational
  structure (50)
• Environmental factors influenced both a
  functional and product/market based structure

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3. Results Perceptions of the difference
between marketing and communication

• 75 of respondents stated that no encroachment or
  imperialistic behaviour was experienced between
  the two functions
• In integrated departments, the difference between
  the two functions became blurred
• the difference between marketing and
  communication may lie on a functional level but
  their objectives are similar
• no real difference between the two functions
• The majority of respondents agreed that the two
  functions have specific roles and tasks, however,
  the tasks attributed to each function varied
  greatly

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3. Results Perceptions of the difference
between marketing and communication

• Communication as a strategic (50) and technical
  (50) organisational function. Strategic tasks
  included
• building the organisations image and reputation
  through internal and external communication
• to create shared meaning for diverse
  stakeholders
• to tell the story of the organisation in total
  and to build its reputation
• Marketing as a technical as opposed to strategic
  organisational function
• 38 of respondents stated that marketing managers
  should be concerned with the 4 Ps
• 25 stated that marketing managers are concerned
  with the technical aspects of marketing
• 25 stated that marketing only differed from
  communication because of its focus on products
• The remaining respondent stated that marketing
  was paid for communication as opposed to
  communication (or PR) that is unpaid for

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3. Results role of communication manager and
access to CEO
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4. Limitations of the study

• An exploratory look was taken into the
  perspective of marketing and communication
  managers in South Africa.
• Cannot be generalised
• Small sample
• Non-probability sampling technique
• Telephone interviews also present its own
  disadvantages
• Interview could not be too long
• Visual techniques could not be utilised

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5. Conclusion

• While functional organisational structures are
  still predominant, a shift is taking place
  towards an integrated approach towards marketing
  and communication
• An increased amount of organisations are taking
  environmental factors into account when
  structuring the organisational functions
• Differing views on the role of communication and
  marketing managers were measured ? these roles
  need to be more clearly defined and commonly
  accepted
• Both functions were often practised at a
  technician level ? both communication and
  marketing managers need to advocate and prove
  their roles as strategists